Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 76, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 May 1899 — The Spiritual Education of the Child. [ARTICLE]

The Spiritual Education of the Child.

Jesus likened the kingdom of heaven unto a little child. Considering how few of us are really happy, enjoying the society of others, and the beauties of Nature, as children do, is it not likely that our education has been one-sided, a cramming of the brain, too little influenced by the heart? The child is never so happy as when expressing its individuality and personality. Its individuality breathes forth in its seasons of reverence and creative activity. Thought and action, acting and re-aoting are the means by which the child grows into its own peculiar sphere of usefulness; in its association with its playmates it develops its personality, or grows into its special sphere of influence. . The teacher should pot expect the child to develop, as a plant grows in the sunshine, unless the ideas presented are a natural stimulus to the germs of thought common to every healthful soul, thus strengthening its innate powers. Let every true teacher be guided by the Great Teacher who loved man for the possibilities of good in him, as well as pitying the sinner. The parables of the mustard seed and the leaven in the bread have not yet touched us in their full significance. Who can study Froebel’s principles without feeling the great responsibilities resting upon parents and teachers?

CHARLOTTE DEARMOND,

Tefft, Ind.